Through my experience working for and with marginalized groups, I have learned that research and policy change must go hand-in-hand in order to improve their integration and social mobility. I was drawn to Urban’s commitment to conduct research that addresses inequities and provides timely actionable recommendations to decisionmakers that can promote policy changes.
Diana Guelespe is a senior research associate in the Tax and Income Supports Division at the Urban Institute, where she conducts community-engaged research that focuses on immigrant and refugee well-being and inclusion. She is a sociologist with more than 20 years of experience working with immigrant and refugee communities at the local, state, and national levels.
Guelespe has in-depth expertise conducting qualitative interviews with members of mixed-status immigrant families and undocumented immigrants. This includes research on mixed-status families’ navigation of daily life in Chicago; evaluations of driver’s license policies for undocumented immigrants in Illinois and Washington, DC; and Urban Institute studies on immigrant families’ experiences accessing safety net programs, COVID-19 stimulus payments, and the child tax credit. She also co-led a national study examining the experiences of Afghan evacuees and how the broader community and resettlement field responded to their complex needs.
Before joining Urban, Guelespe conducted policy analysis for a refugee resettlement agency and conducted research at academic institutions, such as the University of Maryland and Georgetown University. She received her BA in anthropology and MA in political science from Northeastern Illinois University and her PhD in sociology from Loyola University Chicago.
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